SCALING UP:
INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES FOR EXPANDING
NATURALIZATION CAPACITY IN YOUR CITY
July 9, 2015
Cities for Citizenship (C4C) is a major national initiative aimed at
increasing citizenship among eligible U.S. permanent residents and
encouraging cities across the country to invest in citizenship
programs. C4C is chaired by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio,
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti,
with support from the Center for Popular Democracy and the National
Partnership for New Americans. Citi Community Development is the
Founding Corporate Partner.
Participating Cities:
Atlanta, GA · Baltimore, MD · Boston, MA · Chattanooga, TN · Chicago, IL ·
Denver, CO · Los Angeles, CA· Nashville, TN · New York, NY · Milwaukee,
WI · Philadelphia, PA · Pittsburgh, PA · Reading, PA · San Francisco, CA ·
San Jose, CA · Seattle, WA · Washington, DC
Introductions
• Alejandra St. Guillen, Director, Mayor’s Office of New
Bostonians, City of Boston
• Lindsey Bishop, Immigrant Program Manager, Mayor's
Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs, City of
Baltimore
• Zulma Maciel, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Office of
Immigrant Affairs, City of San Jose
• Moderators: Nicole Melaku, National Partnership for New
Americans & Shena Elrington, Center for Popular
Democracy
Building Naturalization Capacity to Scale
Goals for today’s webinar:
• Highlight various levels of program development to
demonstrate the continuum of naturalization programs led
by participating C4C cities;
• Share ideas on building capacity for naturalization work in
your city; and
• Provide additional resources to engage key stakeholders,
including inter-agency departments and community
partners, to expand current efforts.
City of Boston
Alejandra St. Guillen, Director of the Mayor's Office of New Bostonians
Public - Private Partnerships
Citizenship Day 2014
• In partnership with Project Citizenship (prescreening, logistics, attorney recruitment).
Office of New Bostonians, in collaboration with
Office of Health & Human Services in charge
of locations, media and outreach.
• Cross-city effort: 5 simultaneous clinics across
the city on the same day (major communities
reached: Cape-Verdean, Haitian, Central
American/Colombian, Dominican, Brazilian)
• Day of clinic: nearly 200 people served, follow-
up clinics: additional 30-40 people served
• Planning for Citizenship Day 2015 underway
City of Boston’s Commitment to Naturalization
• 2014 – Building a Foundation
• Mayor Walsh presides over Naturalization Ceremony in historic Faneuil Hall;
• City hosts Naturalization Ceremony in the Office of the Mayor;
• Mayor Walsh pens an opinion piece for National Journal on How Boston Encourages U.S.
Citizenship (http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/perspectives/how-boston-encourages-u-s-citizenship20140924)
• Office of New Bostonians, Office of Health & Human Services and Boston Centers for Youth &
Families partner with Project Citizenship to host Citizenship Day 2014.
• City of Boston joins Cities for Citizenship
• 2015 – Scaling Up
• City of Boston launches New American Corners
• VISTA/AmeriCorps Partnership (staffing)
• In collaboration with the Office of Financial Empowerment (joint funding)
• Letter of Agreement with USCIS (resources, materials)
• Stakeholder meeting to build support (from NGOs & Funders)
• Citizenship Day 2015
City of Baltimore
Lindsey Bishop, Immigrant Program Coordinator for Mayor’s Office of Immigrant
& Multi-Cultural Affairs (MIMA)
Building Support
• Summer 2013: The New Americans Task Force
• Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as a strong advocate
-May 2014: Creation of MIMA
-September 2014: Role of Immigrants in Growing Baltimore released
-July 2015: Implementation of 6 to 9 Recommendations, including recommendation promoting
citizenship and the removal of barriers.
(Rawlings-Blake Review: Commemorating Our Nation’s Independence.)
• Data: Baltimore’s Immigrant Community Over Time (1900-2010)
Pr
Promotion of and Access to Citizenship
• Solidifying Partnerships
o
o
o
o
o
o
U.S Census Bureau
Paul D. Coverdell Fellows-University of Maryland-School of Social Work
Neighborhood Housing Services
Service Providers
Enoch Pratt Free Libraries
USCIS (including use of new citizenship outreach materials)
• Focus on Financial Capacity-Building
o Financial literacy
o Small Dollar Loans
o Connectivity to small business and homeownership programs
• Addressing Challenges
o Data
o Strategic & Targeted Outreach
o Starting Small & Building Sustainability
CITY OF SAN JOSE
Zulma Maciel, Assistant to the City Manager, Office of Immigrant Affairs
“Our evolution over the past 50 years, from an
agricultural community to become the world’s leading
center of technology innovation is attributed to the
entrepreneurial spirit of the people of San Jose, who
have come to reside here from all corners of the world
and together have grown our economy and our cultural
heritage. The success of San Jose relies in good
measure on facilitating citizenship for our immigrant
population.”
- Mayor Sam Liccardo
City of San Jose, California
San Jose Population: 1,015,785
• Largest City in Bay Area/Northern CA
• 3rd Largest City in California
• 10th Largest City in the United States
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
English
43%
Spanish
24%
Asian/Pac. Is.
26%
Other
7%
San Jose Office of Immigrant Affairs
Mayor and City Council directive:
1. Support local efforts related to President
Obama’s Executive Action on
Immigration
Office of Immigrant Affairs
established in 2015
2. Develop a long-term plan for immigrant
integration
Short-term Wins:
a. Cities United for Immigration Action
b. Cities for Citizenship
c. $250k for implementation of DACA/DAPA
d. 1 FTE
San Jose for Citizenship [short-term]
190,000 LPRs in the County
14% of eligible residents apply each year
2015-2016
Partnership with United Way Silicon Valley, County of Santa Clara,
Community Based Organizations and USCIS
Supported by Citi Community Development and City of San Jose
1.
Linguistically and culturally competent public outreach campaign
2.
Create Citizenship/New American Corners at San Jose Libraries
3.
Training on the basics of the naturalization process for community center, library, and call
center City staff
4.
Training for CBO staff on financial literacy and develop ways to integrate into citizenship
information sessions
5.
Naturalization Ceremony in coordination with a professional sports team
6.
Host Citizenship Day on September 17th.
San Jose for Citizenship [long-term]
Minimize barriers through:
• Education outreach
• English and citizenship test preparation services
• Microloans to cover application fee
Strategy for Growth:
1. Identify opportunities for City departments to get involved
2. Determine City’s role in County Citizenship Collaborative
3. Work with financial institutions to offer microloans
4. Create a prospect profile list of potential private funders and an associated
fund development plan
Strategies for Expanding Naturalization Work in Your City
• Find the “Integration hubs” in your community. Citizenship
Corners are low-cost and USCIS has many resources on-line
to create one.
• Explore innovative staffing models to expand the work:
AmeriCorps, interns, and community volunteers are crucial for
outreach strategies.
• Develop public-private partnerships and collaborative
fundraising models.
• Involve commissioners and community stakeholders in the
long-range strategic planning to ensure naturalization work is
institutionalized beyond the current administration.
Setting up a New Americans Corner
• USCIS provides detailed steps on setting up a
citizenship corner:
http://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/organizations/libr
aries/citizenship-corners
• Download the USCIS Civics & Citizenship Toolkit
• Have plenty copies of Form N-400 available
• Download and print 10 Steps to Naturalization
USCIS Guide
Staffing Suggestions
• Create pipeline for future staffing through
Americorps and intern placements.
• Partner with Volunteers of America, Peace
Corps (returned volunteers) and
universities
Discussion
What challenges and opportunities
does your initiative face in expanding
current naturalization work? How have
you addressed those challenges?
Atlanta, GA · Baltimore, MD · Boston, MA · Chattanooga, TN ·
Chicago, IL · Denver, CO · Jersey City, NJ ·Los Angeles, CA·
Nashville, TN · New York, NY · Milwaukee, WI · Philadelphia,
PA · Pittsburgh, PA · Reading, PA · San Francisco, CA ·
San Jose, CA· Seattle, WA · Washington, DC
www.citiesforcitizenship.org
For more information contact cities4citizenship@populardemocracy.org